For a photoelectric conversion element, such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and a TDI (Time Delay Integration) which have plural sensor pixels, means for increasing the speed of processing includes a method of raising the clock rate of sensor pixels and a so-called multi output method in which sensor pixels are divided into plural blocks and signals are outputted in parallel for the blocks, for example.
As a conventional technology for methods of increasing the speed of a photoelectric conversion element, Patent Document 1 discloses a method in which the sensor pixels are separated into even-numbered pixels and odd-numbered pixels to output signals and the signals are integrated after A/D conversion.
Examples of means for changing the resolution of a photoelectric conversion element arbitrarily include a method using plural imaging optical systems with different magnifying powers and a method converting the resolution by image processing after obtaining the image data.